You can complain if he's not in the mocks 3 weeks before the draft, then you can complain, but if he's in the big board, then that's respect enough, like Papanikoulu, he got in the mocks a couple weeks before the draft. Don't worry, I'm sure this kid is good, but if he's 20 and really good, shouldn't he be on the national team?

You can complain if he's not in the mocks 3 weeks before the draft, then you can complain, but if he's in the big board, then that's respect enough, like Papanikoulu, he got in the mocks a couple weeks before the draft. Don't worry, I'm sure this kid is good, but if he's 20 and really good, shouldn't he be on the national team?

Papanikolaou was only drafted because he played at the Euroleague Final Four. NBA teams didn't even know who he was before that. The NEVER EVER scout Greek players. Because they are biased against them.

Sloukas and Mantzaris and Pappas, and Giankovits, and Sarikopoulos, etc. all should have been drafted too, and would have been drafted if they played in NCAA or any other European country.

Larentzakis is NOT 20 - he's 18 as I said in the thread. He is 18 playing at the under age 20 tournament.

At 20 you think any good players should be on Greece's senior national team? Are you on drugs?

But, to be honest, I do not know much about him. NBA Scouts may know more, I am sure they are probably familiar with him. Still, doing well in these events does not automatically assert your dominance as a prospect. It means you are at a good stage for the time being, maybe one of the better players in your age group for your country, just does not necessarily mean you are a better long term prospect than another player comparatively.

Alex Albrines is not doing as well as Larentzakis in this tournament. Daniel Diez is actually doing better for Spain. However, does it mean that Albrines still does not have more upside than either? He may not, just certainly could be a possibility.

One thing I do know is I saw Vytnenis Cizauskas play at the Nike Hoop Summit, he who is narrowly behind Larentzakis and Anastasios Antonakis in scoring as of the time I am posting this. Well, Cizauskas was tough, he was a grinder, but it was hard to believe he will be a NBA prospect. He may be a back-up PG and a good player, he is just nothing incredibly special. If you just looked at his statistics, you might think otherwise.

If you actually broke down what Larentzakis would bring to a NBA team and the role he would play, that would be a much more effective way of educating people and trying to gain support as far as having him on the Mock. Instead of spouting statistics and providing nothing as far as his abilities and how they would translate to the NBA. Their is not a great deal of separation between the last few players on a NBA roster, a number of players could be candidates. What does Larentzakis have that separates him from the pack, besides doing well in this tournament that is not necessarily a gauge for NBA success?

When did I ever say that I was some Euroleague expert? The only way I know anything about Euro guys are when you post about them and then I watch Youtube videos of them. I am an NBA only fan, and I am proud to be a die-hard NBA fan.

I don't think you understand that there are only 60 draft picks every year...that is a very small number considering the fact that a couple hundred enter their name in every year...

There is no bias against Greeks (lol why would there be?) except for the one you have where you think any Greek player that does well in a tournament should be on NBA mocks (as if these mocks actually mean anything) and if they aren't than you go on a hissy fit.

Now I assume your reply to this post is that I don't know anything about basketball and I'm a stupid American who only likes the NBA and other passive aggressive remarks about NBA fans in general.

There IS a bias. After Papanikolaou was drafted almost every US media report said that "no Greek can play in the NBA". There were quotes from Givony, quotes from general managers, etc. that Greece has no one that can play in the NBA.

So yes, there is a HUGE bias against Greek players.

I mean these fools think Spanoulis can't play in NBA? They are on drugs and obviously insane.

After Papanikolaou was drafted almost every US media report said that "no Greek can play in the NBA". There were quotes from Givony, quotes from general managers, etc. that Greece has no one that can play in the NBA.

Holy crap that has to be like a million media reports then. With all those reports you should have no problem showing me one.

Dude I've been following Westermann since very long and can tell you that it will be extremely complicated for him to be drafted, so I don't know where you saw that he'd go as a first rounder. If you knew him a bit better, he is actually a PG cuz you know, when you measure more than 6'6, doesn't automatically mean that you ain't a PG.. Do you know Magic Johnson eh? Or more presently Shaun Livingston? I also have to tell you that you can't compare Larentzakis and Westermann in terms of points as it is not Westermann's game!! He is a pass-first PG, a (future) floor general. If we take your logic and reason in PPG's then Monta Ellis is a top-10 player in the world right now.

And don't say French players are overhyped, that ain't true at all. Proof is there are many borderline secound-rounders who came in France these recent years and got owned by young french players like Andrew Albicy, Antoine Diot, Fabien Causeur or Ali Traoré, and that's just naming a few. Yet these players were not drafted, so you can't say french prospects are overhyped or else they would have surely been drafted. I honestly think Albicy should have earned a secound-round spot cuz of his great defense, at least instead of a guy like Izzet Turkyilmaz or Ilkan Karaman.

He's playing with a knee injury. Even with a knee injury, which he already had to set out one of the games because of it, he leads Greece in scoring, is their first option (same team with #15 NBA pick Antetokounmpo) and is one of the lead scorers in the tournament.

one scout said this is one of weakst U-20 championship. and after watching Greece-Croatia I agree with him. Croatian U-19 without Saric and Serbia U-19 had partys in prepgames vs. Montenegro U-20 wich looks to be one of better teams here, now I know why they demolished them

you see how many SCRUBS are on NBA teams? Every NBA team has several players that would not even make it in good Euroleague clubs. NBA tams are loaded with scrub after scrub after scrub.

"not NBA material"................

funny, because every time I come here to this site I see comments like one above in this thread, "Spanoulis can't play in NBA"..........

yes, so Spanoulis is also "not NBA material", even though he is for sure way superior to most NBA players.

"not NBA material" is code word, for we don't want any white Greeks in NBA.

Larentzakis is a great shooter, and great shooters are always NBA material. Especially ones that have other kills and floor game to go with it, like Larentzakis has.

But your comments are no surprise here, considering that first time I brought up Pappas in this forum you claimed he was a total nobody in Europe and that you had never even heard of him. Yeah, well "total nobody in Europe that you never heard of" is now a rotation player in an elite European club.